They Took The Midnight Train
by What'dIMiss
Summary: Duncan boards a train at midnight expecting a solo ride, to get away from his life for awhile. He instead meets a girl with red hair, listening to music, on the train for the same reason. AU. Rated T b/c. Song-fic.
1. Chapter 1: The First Train Ride

**A/N: Was I ever glad to finally get this written! This has been sitting in my brain for months.**

 **This is my first time writing something focused on these two. I hope they're decently characterized.**

 **This is inspired by the first verse of the song Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. I don't own the song, Total Drama, or these characters.**

 **Please enjoy!**

Duncan covered his bright green-tipped hair with his hood and shoved his hands in his pockets. He couldn't have people recognizing him as he walked into the old train station. Of course, it being close to midnight, no one was really there. Just a few homeless bums riding out the rain.

As the clock rang it's twelve times, and his cheap watch beeped just as many, he watched as the train pulled into the station. He stepped on and found a seat, which wasn't too difficult since there was no one on the train.

Well, almost no one.

There was a girl. She was sitting by a window, listening to music through bad-quality earbuds from the look and sound emanating from them. She sighed as the train began to move again. She took off her hood, revealing bright red hair in two short pigtails, and put her head in her hand on the edge of the window, staring out. She didn't seem to notice Duncan's presence.

Duncan walked to a seat on the opposite side of the train, so they were parallel to each other. The girl still didn't notice him. He took out his pocket knife and a piece of wood he'd snagged off the ground earlier.

This knife was his most prized possession. It was one of the few things he could call his own. The rest belonged to his, er...his guardian.

He began carving a random shape into them. The girl looked over at him, realizing he was there. She took an earbud out. "Um...hi." She started, apparently trying to make conversation.

Duncan stopped carving and looked at her, not lifting his hood. "What is it, Red? Can't you see I'm trying to carve something here?"

Her expression turned apologetic. "Oh, I'm sorry, just trying to make conversation. It's kind of boring listening to the same songs over and over again." She took out her other earbud, unplugged them from what looked like her phone, and placed them in her bag.

They sat in continued silence until...

"So, where are you from?"

Duncan didn't like the question. "Around here," he simply said. He didn't care to give a random stranger on a train his home address. Not that he really had one, but still.

"Oh, ok, me too. I live a few stations down from the last one." The girl explained. She then looked him in his blue eyes. "Y'know, you have nice eyes."

"Oh. Uh, thanks." Duncan didn't get many compliments about anything. "Yours are nice too." He didn't know what else to say in return.

The girl blushed lightly. "Thanks."

More silence.

"So, just out of curiosity, why are you taking a train running at midnight?" Duncan asked, actually curious.

"Oh, I just wanted some time to think. About life. How empty it all is..." She sighed.

"Wait, why do you think that?"

"I've never been the most-social person in the world. I try to make friends, but they all think I'm kind of...weird. The guys in my town are obsessed with sports and being loud and obnoxious, and the girls are all cheerleaders. I'm not into that. It's so fake."

"Then what are you into?"

"Art, theater, music."

"Well that's all good and lovely." Duncan went back to carving.

The girl frowned and moved into the seat next to Duncan. "I told you about myself, it's your turn."

Duncan groaned. He put his knife and carving away in his pocket before looking back at her. "What is it you want to know?"

"First, I want to see your face. All I can see are your eyes."

"Fine." Duncan pulled off his hood, revealing his hair.

"You dye your hair too?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Nothing..." She smiled a little. "Why are _you_ taking a train at midnight?"

Now that, Duncan would not answer. He just looked her in her brown eyes and said, "No."

"What?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Why not?"

"It's a... difficult subject."

"You know what's difficult? Having your boyfriend dump you."

"Oh, I feel that. Instead of a boyfriend, it was my girl. Two, actually."

"That's funny, it was a thing with two different guys-well, not really."

They laughed awkwardly.

"So how'd you manage that?" Duncan asked.

"Oh...I don't want to talk about it." She rubbed her arm. "I thought he was this sweet guy, but this other girl came into the picture, and he was all over her. And he was so two faced about it, trying to convince me he wasn't like that. But he was, he absolutely was." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Red, stop crying."

She took a deep breath and the tears subsided. "Sorry, I get too emotional sometimes."

"And stop apologizing. It's getting on my nerves."

"Sor-ok. And you don't have to call me Red. My name's Zoey."

"Fine then, Zoey. You can call me Duncan."

He train was pulling into the next station. They'd been there a good long time, and it had gone back again to Zoey's station. She got stood up, grabbed her bag, and waved to him. "Bye, Duncan. Nice meeting you."

"Oh, uh, nice meeting you too, or whatever." He tried to play it off like he didn't care, when in reality he hoped to maybe see her again someday.

He took his carving back out with his knife, and began again, his hood back over his hair, a small smile on his face.

 **Please review. It's appreciated. :)**


	2. Chapter 2: The First Confession of Mike

**A/N: Hiiiii!**

 **This fic is going nowhere normal at this point, so let's just see what happens, shall we?**

 **Apologies for Mike's OOCness at the beginning.**

 **Enjoy!**

"Goddamnit, where did I put that thing?!"

"Mike, you shouldn't speak like that when your uncle is here to visit!"

"Jesus Mom, he's like, twenty-five."

"Still!"

Mike groaned. He put a yellow t-shirt on over his previously bare chest. He was already wearing jeans, having come home from a night out with Anne Maria and fallen asleep in his clothes. His hair had respiked itself, and he was trying to find his hair gel to slick it back again, but it had vanished. He gave up the search and went downstairs.

His uncle was waiting. He looked all formal in a blue sweater vest, white dress shirt and black pants. He had keys spinning on his finger.

"Let's go, Mike, I don't have all day."

"Ok, Noah, geez."

"So, how's your brother doing?"

They were now in Noah's car, driving to a nice little diner on the edge of the town. Mike lived on the opposite end, so it was a bit of a drive.

"Oh, him. I haven't seen him in a long while..." Mike sighed as he looked out the window. He hadn't seen his older brother since he'd left home to find a life elsewhere when he was nineteen and Mike was fourteen. After hearing nothing from him for days turning into weeks, the police were called in to search for him, but he wasn't anywhere in or near the vicinity so they gave up. Some people said he was dead, others that he was arrested and sent to jail for a felony.

One time Mike almost thought he saw him while hanging out with Zoey at the park nearby, but it must've been some trick of the light.

"I don't need a sob story, I just want a straight answer."

"I don't know how he's doing. I don't know where he is, no one does." Mike then raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"We used to be friends. When I still lived around here. You were pretty young."

"Yeah, five years apart is a while for two brothers."

"Try having eight older siblings sometime."

Mike slid his focus back to the road.

"I heard from your mom you had some drama with a girlfriend of yours."

"She-it's complicated."

"Mm hmm, sure."

"No, really!"

"Explain when we get there. This kind of topic isn't meant for the car."

Mike shut up.

They reached the diner and found a seat in a booth near the back. Their waitress gave them menus and brought them water.

"So spill. How did the drama start?"

"I was crushing on this girl, Zoey. She was pretty, smart-"

"Is, idiot, she's not dead."

"Heh, right. She's pretty, smart, and we never had any drama. It was fine for a while. Then, this other girl moved here from New Jersey, Anne Maria. And something inside me went DAMN, she is hot. I don't know why exactly, but I started acting differently around her than I did with Zoey. I'm well-versed in getting into character from my acting experience, but this was me becoming my character for real. Me and Zoey were never really dating officially, so it didn't seem like a problem. Me and Anne Maria started going out, and, um, making out, which I guess made Zoey blow up. I tried to explain to her, but she wouldn't listen. Then we broke up, or stopped being friends. Whatever we were, we stopped being it." He put his head in his hand.

"Oh wow, that's some serious drama." Noah rolled his eyes. "If you're fine with who you're with, what should your exes opinion matter?"

"I still want to be friends with her."

"If she's still mad, let her cool off before talking to her again."

Mike nodded. "You seem to know what you're talking about."

Noah shrugged and sipped his water. "I've had one or two rocky relationships myself."

"Oh yeah. How's Cody doing, by the way? He going anywhere new with his music career?" Mike remembered Noah's boyfriend from seeing him in concert what felt like forever ago and then being introduced to him afterwards. He still had a signed Drama Brothers Tour t-shirt. It didn't really fit anymore.

"Meh, he gave up on that after his band broke up a few years back, and now he's trying to get into technological researching. He's always been a bit of a geek." Noah smiled a little.

Mike smiled back. "Cool! What about you?"

"Not totally sure yet. Something with history, it was my major first four years of college."

"Nice."

"Any plans for that yet, or are you staying here and living in your moms basement?"

"I was thinking of an arts school out of state. I want to get into professional acting."

"Mm, not a whole lot of money in that. But hey, if you somehow become famous then hit a roadblock in your career, you can't say I didn't warn you."

Mike laughed.

Noah cracked a smile.

They continued to discuss random things in their lives until Mike heard the door bell ring indicating someone walking in. He turned his head, then immediately whipped it back around. "Um, Noah?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh, Zoey just walked in." He sounded nervous.

Noah looked over to see her wearing a red hoodie unzipped over a black t-shirt, walk over to a booth opposite them.

"So, what? You don't need to talk to her."

"But what if she sees me? I don't think I can face her right now."

"Just pretend she's not there."

Mike glanced at her again, then focused back on Noah. They continued to talk.

Zoey, meanwhile, didn't see Noah at first when she walked in. She just saw Mike, looking the way he did when they were sort of dating, his hair sticking out everywhere, wearing a normal t-shirt, drinking water. She didn't see Anne Maria anywhere so she wondered why he was there by himself. Then she saw him with Noah. "Must be a friend of his. They look so alike.." She shook her head and let her thoughts wander. Her mind went to that morning weeks earlier when she had snuck out to ride the train, and her conversation with Duncan.

That had been the first time she'd opened up to a complete stranger. Yet he didn't feel like a stranger. He seemed to totally get her. Even though he was reserved and didn't open up, he held understanding in his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes. To add to it all, they had so much in common. She wondered where he lived, if they could maybe talk again sometime. She sighed loudly before getting out of her seat and walking out into the late afternoon sun

 **PLEASE review this. See you next time. :)**


	3. Chapter 3:The Second Train Ride

**A/N: Finally, another update! Writers block is the worst. :p**

 **Decided to sort of reveal more about who Duncan is living with.**

 **Thanks to missmartian369, Bloodylilcorpse, and the guest for reviewing. :)**

 **Enjoy!**

Duncan walked into the drug store, and began to pocket a few items. The cashier was reading a book, so they weren't paying attention when he walked out without paying.

He strode down the alley to the train station and hopped on the next one coming through. It was early afternoon, so few people were riding.

He spotted a familiar red hoodie. "Zoey?"

She turned and saw him. She smiled. "Duncan! I was hoping we'd see each other. How've you been been?"

"Oh, I've been fine..." Hardly. He had nearly been arrested twice. His guardian had shoved him against the wall of their tiny inner-city apartment after his second narrow escape.

"You'd better not screw up, Duncan. 'Cause I'm not going back to jail. If you get arrested, I'm not getting you out," he'd said, so calm and yet so seriously deadly.

Duncan had nodded fearfully before retreating to his room.

His guardian was harsh about these kinds of things. Or all things, really. He drank most of the time, and the rest was him being his usual manic self. Except he wasn't manic in the usual outburst-y kind of way. He was subtle, which was all the more terrifying. He didn't seem to care about anything or anyone. Yet he still had taken care of Duncan since Duncan could remember. Granted, that wasn't a long time.

Zoey frowned. "You don't look fine."

"Yeah, so what?" Duncan challenged.

"You can tell me what's bothering you."

"No, I can't."

"Why not?"

"It's complicated." He looked away.

"Fine, don't tell me." Zoey crossed her arms and looked straight ahead. "I saw my old boyfriend today," she muttered.

"Oh, was he hitting up that girl you were talking about the other day?"

"No, he was talking with someone else. Probably a family member, though I've never met him."

"Just out of curiosity, what does your ex look like?" Duncan was curious to know. In case he ever stumbled across him.

"Tall, tan, brown eyes, black hair, gorgeous body..." Zoey sighed. "The cutest gap between his front teeth."

Duncan thought for a moment. He knew someone who fit that description to some extent, but he knew they weren't whom Zoey was talking about.

He acted like it was no big deal by simply shrugging. "Do you do anything other than ride the train when I do?" he then asked.

Zoey laughed. "I do a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"Nothing too exciting. I sew. I made this hoodie." Zoey fingered the end of it.

"Huh. Anything else? You said you liked theater. Do you act?"

Zoey shook her head. "I'm not much of an actress, but I do some costume designing for my school's productions."

"Cool, or whatever."

"And you? Any hobbies, interests, stuff like that?"

"Not really. I do 'public art' on occasion, and I carve stuff with my pocket knife, but that's it."

"Hm. Have you ever considered acting?"

"Um, no. Acting's for weaklings who don't know how to play sports." Duncan crossed his arms. Not that he did sports, but he'd always figured all actors were like the way he'd described.

"Not true. There's a guy at my school who fits that description, and he's a jock."

"Still, not my thing."

"Can I see some of this 'public art' sometime?" Zoey now asked.

Duncan shrugged. "I guess."

Zoey smiled. "I'll get off at your stop then."

Duncan's throat tightened. "Today?"

"Why not?"

"No reason..." He had a reason. A good one. But he couldn't tell her.

"Then let me see it!"

"Fine," Duncan rolled his eyes at her, hiding the lingering feeling that this would not go well.

 **Please review! See you next time.**


	4. Chapter 4:The Tour

**A/N: BACK WITH ANOTHER LONG AWAITED UPDATE!**

 **Sorry this took so long. It's not even that long, either. But it's here now. For you. To read.**

 **Thansk to Bloodylilcorpse and missmartian369 for reviewing the last chapter.:)**

 **Enjoy!**

They reached Duncan's stop. The station was noticeably dinghy, much more obviously in the light of day. There was some graffiti on one wall.

Duncan got off the train first. "Watch your step. Lost of folks around here aren't exactly 'honorable."

Zoey nodded, a bit nervous now. She stuck close to Duncan as they left the station and walked into the street, which was littered with garbage and cigarette butts. She looked around.

"Care for some... _accessories_ , young lady?" An ultra shady looking guy approached Zoey, grabbing her arm and wrenching her off of Duncan. He peeled off part of his jacket from his chest to reveal dangling chains and watches.

"Watch it, buddy." Duncan pushed the creeper to the side and took Zoey's hand, leading her away from him.

"Ain't you the poor kid livin' with that-" the creep started asking.

They were already gone.

Duncan led Zoey towards a neighborhood via an alley. The street-level sections of the walls were covered in oddly beautiful graffiti.

Zoey was in awe as she looked over all of them. "Wow..."

Duncan smiled slightly, knowing he'd done most of the paintings.

"Did you do these?" Zoey asked, looking at him now.

"Most of them, yeah." Duncan nodded.

Zoey gaped. "That's so cool!" She grinned at him.

Duncan smiled. "Thanks. Most people don't exactly appreciate it."

As if on cue, a police siren could be heard in the distance, along with yelling shortly followed by gunshots. "You've seen my art, let's get you back to the train station..." Duncan continued hurriedly.

"Nooooo, I just got here. Show me the other sights here," Zoey encouraged, smiling.

Duncan rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Alright, if you insist..."

He showed her around his neighborhood. Occasionally he had to direct her away from more unsavory characters or police stationed on street corners.

There were some beautiful things around, like more graffiti and sculptures made from old discarded beer and soda cans lining one alleyway. Zoey was part amazed and part nervous about what she saw. She was seeing art and beauty alongside crime and violence.

"So that's all of it..." Duncan had brought them back to the train station.

"It's quite an... _interesting_ place to live, I bet," Zoey replied, placing her hands in her hoody pocket.

"Oh yeah, real interesting." Duncan nodded slowly as he said this.

"Maybe another time I can show you around the town where I live," Zoey suggested.

"That...would be kinda cool, actually," Duncan replied, smiling a bit.

Zoey grinned. "Thanks for today. It was fun."

"Sure...no problem, Zoey."

Zoey gave him a very brief hug before entering the station to catch her train home.

Duncan blushed faintly when she hugged him. He walked back towards his apartment once she vanished into the decrepit station.

 **Please review! See ya next time!:)**


	5. Chapter 5:The Apartment

**A/N: another short update! I'm on a roll!**

 **This is a peek into Duncan's home life with his guardian...there is a small bit of language and some abusiveness so be warned.**

 **Thanks to Bloodlylilcorpse and missmartian369 for reviewing the last chapter. :)**

 **Enjoy!**

"Who the hell was she?" his guardian asked in his sinisterly dark voice upon Duncan's arrival 'home'.

"Just a friend..." Duncan looked at his expression. "Chill out, it's not like I brought her here," Duncan replied fearfully when his guardian's hands tightened into fists.

"Mmhmmmmm. You bet your ass you won't bring her here. Ever."

"I know. You've told me a hundred times not to bring anyone here. And I never have."

"But oh, you will. You're too much of a delinquent not to defy me someday."

"You _made_ me a delinquent. _You_ tell me to steal things, and if I don't, you..." Duncan bit his lip before he could continue.

"That's how I brought you up, isn't it? So what's wrong with that, hm, _Duncan_?" His guardian gave him an expectant but threatening eyebrow raise, staring at him with his one visible eye.

"...nothing," Duncan replied complacently, bowing his head in defeat.

His guardian smirked triumphantly and put a slight arm around Duncan's shoulders. Both of them were quite tall but Duncan was a head shorter than his guardian. "Good boy." He patted him hard on the shoulder then pushed Duncan away so he stumbled to right himself again. His guardian laughed that evil laugh of his. "Now take that ugly hood of yours off and let's see what you stole me for dinner this week. I'm close to _bursting_ from the anticipation." He strode off towards the kitchen.

Duncan sighed, taking off his black jacket to reveal a ratty once-white t-shirt underneath. He pulled the items he'd stolen from the drug store out of its pockets.

His guardian saw the haul and frowned. "That's less than last time. Are you holding out on me?"

Duncan shook his head.

His guardian narrowed his eyes, then grabbed Duncan painfully by the shirt collar, partly clawing into his skin, and searched his other pockets while Duncan held back tears as blood trickled down his chest and stained his t-shirt.

"You're useless," his guardian muttered as he then dropped him so he fell. He started to walk away.

Duncan winced, both at the insult and the general physical pain he was feeling right now.

"It doesn't matter, I need you around..." His guardian waved it off.

Duncan picked himself up off the ground and found some stale weeks old cereal in a broken cupboard. He ate it dry.

Meanwhile his guardian ate a bowl of steaming ramen noodles which Duncan had stolen. Not the steam, just the noodles.

Duncan knew not to ask to eat anything that required heating unless he wanted another burn mark on his body to add to his collection.

 **If you have any guesses as to who Duncan's guardian is, please keep them to yourself, thank you.**

 **Please Reveiw! See y'all next time!:)**


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